


If You Fall Hard, I Fall Harder

by thedeadflag



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Clarke is clumsy, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Goth Anya, NaNoWriMo 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 11:30:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12630054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedeadflag/pseuds/thedeadflag
Summary: The three times Clarke Griffin nearly fell to her doom, and the one time she repaid the favor





	If You Fall Hard, I Fall Harder

"I swear, these tunnels are a godsend." Clarke said, trudging up the gentle ascent towards the Jaha building on campus. "Best thing that's ever been created."

"You just say that because you were too lazy to get dressed this morning. Or most mornings for that matter." Raven countered quickly, her laughter not even putting a dent in Clarke's certainty.

The tunnels under campus were the best thing ever. Anything that let her avoid negative twenty degree weather, high winds, and heavy blistering snow had to at least be top three on that list.

"You're just jealous that I get to wear my pajamas to class." Clarke took a final sip of her coffee and sighed. It was a good morning. She'd slept well, she was warm, and she had a coffee. Life was good.

Raven scoffed, of course, but Clarke knew the truth. "You could have at least worn the one with the penguins. These ones are, like, five inches too long. You're gonna kill yourself one day."

"That's the cost of being cozy, Raven. _Danger_." Clarke laughed, opening up the door to Jaha Building's first level, holding it for Raven. "Besides, you know I do laundry on Wednesday nights. Tonight. These were all I had left."

"Anyways, you ready for the quiz today?" Raven asked as they made their way down the hall and left through the heavy doors, taking the stairwell to the second floor.

Clarke let out a groan, the bottled of frustration from last night seeping out of her along with it. "I hate Kane. I slacked a little and thought I could rely on his slides as a foundation, but there's so much random junk in there, and empty slides, and you know I can only read my handwriting from class, like, half of the time."

"Hey, don't hate on that. It's a sign you're well on your way to being a doctor." Raven's sass had Clarke rolling her eyes as they made their way out into the hall and over to the lecture hall doors. Raven pulled it open and gestured Clarke through. "How your mom is the best surgeon in DC with her indecipherable handwriting is a damned mystery, but hey, I guess it runs in the family."

On one hand, she didn't like Raven getting too far ahead of herself; Clarke knew she was still in pre-med, a lifetime away from actually being a doctor. On the other hand, it was one of the rare moments Raven talked about her mother without referring to her 'skilled fingers', or that Abby was the pinnacle of hot moms.

It was with that mess of thoughts in her head that Clarke failed to recognize that the hem of her pajamas slipped over and beneath her foot. The moment she finished her step, she stumbled forward, a full flight of stairs to the bottom of the lecture hall waiting for her.

Maybe her life flashed before her eyes, but only for a moment, arms reaching out and pulling her off course, sending her and another person hard onto the tops of the next row of seats.

Clarke immediately jolted to her feet, adrenaline coursing through her veins, eternally grateful that she hadn't fallen and smashed her face and body on a precipitous tumble down the concrete steps. When her focus cleared enough to make sense of her surroundings, Clarke held her gaze on her saviour.

Her saviour that looked more than a little pissed off, her usually dark and severe makeup only looking more intimidating in the moment. Because of course the goth girl she'd had a crush on all semester long would be the one she'd crash land onto.

"Watch where you're going next time. You almost killed yourself." The girl grumbled, letting out a pained grunt as she got to her feet, deep amber eyes diverting to check herself over. "And now there's a tear in my skirt. Thanks for that."

"Sorry." Clarke let out as the girl stormed off, making her way down the aisle to the far end of the row.

As soon as she turned around, Raven was there with a shit-eating grin on her face, eyebrow cocked in open scrutiny. "Told you so. Can't believe the broody goth girl caught you. Don't think I've seen anyone move that fast since that time you roped me into filming our high school track meets with you."

"I for one, am just happy to be alive. Alive and comfortable in my pajamas, like any sane and reasonable person would be for an eight AM class." Clarke insisted as she followed Raven down close to the front to their usual seats, taking extra care with her footwork this time. Anything to keep her mind off of the goth girl and how beautiful she was up close.

"Don't you dare start with that again..."

* * *

_2 weeks later_

* * *

 

"...and so my colleague is high as a kite, rambling on about a painless existence, and that there's this city of light, and he's just cognizant enough through the haze of the painkillers to be aware of me and my responses so I just say...'well, that's good, right?'... that there's this apparent city, and all, and then he..." Professor Kane droned on, the loud coughing and creaking of seats as students got up seemingly alerting him to the fact that the period was over. "...anyways, be sure to get in the readings before next class, there will be a quiz. Pages three-nineteen to four-oh-six."

Clarke scribbled down the page range in the margin of her notebook and got to packing her things away, thankful she didn't have any other classes on Wednesdays. It helped split the week up a little, and gave her a breather in the middle rather than overloading her on the weekend.

"Well, that was...insightful." Raven let out with a laugh. "Can't say I've ever spent twenty two minutes listening to a prof go on and on about his friend tripping on painkillers before, but I guess there's a first time for everything."

"Yeah, that was pretty special." Clarke added, squeezing out of her row and through the tight line of students heading down to talk to the prof. Usually she'd stick around for follow-up questions, too, but there'd been so little actual relevant material discussed today that she felt fine just heading home.

"So any plans today?" Raven asked as they slowly made their way up the stairs.

"I think I'll finish the paper for this class that's due in a few weeks. I've already caught up on my readings for the rest, and finished all my assignments, so I can put next class' readings on the shelf for a few days while I finish up my paper." She hoped the paper wouldn't take her the rest of the day, though. Clarke had her eye on checking out a few new TV shows, and her Netflix account was woefully underused for the past month.

"Well, I might stop by tonight after classes. Maybe we could grab a movie or something?" While TV was intriguing, Clarke was pretty sure she had a few movies on her watch list that she had yet to check out. It was a good idea, she could use the company.

Clarke turned her head to peer over her shoulder at Raven, but felt her feet tangle up underneath her as her toes stubbed against the concrete, sending her reeling forward with a whole lot of concrete rising up to greet her.

She winced her eyes shut on instinct, but found herself crashing into something much softer than concrete.

Or, as she hesitantly opened her eyes, someone. Specifically, the goth girl who had caught her last time around.

"People learn how to walk up the stairs when they're infants. Fucking hell!" The girl grit out, slowly rising from the crouched position she'd dropped to in order to catch her.

Clarke was certain she was as red as a tomato. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

The goth girl's pointed glare softened, even if just a little. "Fine."

"I didn't wreck anything of yours, did I?" Clarke pressed, having felt guilty about the last time, knowing the girl's clothes, while a bit out there, looked pretty expensive. Or, well, pretty and expensive.

Thankfully, the girl shook her head. "I don't wear nice things to this class anymore." The girl brushed herself off and started back down the stairs.

"Bye! Thanks!" Clarke offered to the retreating girl, not gaining a response.

Or, well, not from her. Raven gave her a light shove, helping her realize there was a pack of disgruntled students wanting to get up and out of the lecture hall.

More careful this time, Clarke made her way up and out of the hall, Raven immediately linking arms with her as they emerged from the doors. "So...creepy goth girl's saved your face twice. You should thank her."

"I...did? Or, at least, I already tried. She shut me down." Clarke wasn't sure where Raven was going, but apparently it deserved a sit down talk, Raven pulling her down onto the closest bench.

"I mean, get her a gift or something. She saved you from months of plastic surgery, I think you could afford to get her something nice." Raven suggested, eyebrows rising with clear expectation that she follow her best friend's absurd plan. Clarke just held her stare, hoping Raven would give up. Getting the truth wasn't as good, but it was a nice consolation prize. "Okay, so I kind of have an active bet with Harper that she's capable of smiling. Harper doesn't think so, but I think you could work that wonky Griffin charm of yours and make it happen. Besides, you're single, I'm sure _she's_ single. We're past Halloween, so you don't have to worry about hooking up in graveyards or creepy shit like that."

The image of her and the goth girl making out against a mausoleum struck her, forcing Clarke to face-palm to hide her blush, not wanting Raven to see it and get even more entrenched in her line of thought.

Yes, the goth girl was more than a little attractive. Yes, Clarke kind of really liked her style. Yes, she wanted to see if those cheek bones really could cut glass.  But she didn't even know the girl's name, so it was already a lost cause.

"Raven..."

"I'm just saying. She's a little spooky, but she's cute in an intense, funeral-chic kind of way. You could do worse than broody goth girl. She _probably_ wouldn't poison you, or bite your neck while you sleep." Clarke rolled her eyes and gave Raven a shove, knowing her teasing was starting to get a bit much.

After all, the girl didn't strike her as the malicious or creepy type. She just had a certain fashion sense about her; one that made her stick out like a sore thumb, but no less pretty. Certainly no less pretty with her delicate, dramatic features on display.

"She's probably just a sweet girl that's annoyed from me falling on her all the time.  Like, I'm pretty sure I've only legit fallen on her twice now, but she used to sit up front the first few weeks and I think I stumbled into her and bumped into her a few times then, too." Clarke let out a sigh and slumped forward, hugging her waist. "I don't mean to be clumsy. I hope she knows that."

Raven just shrugged and pulled out her phone. "I don't know. She was pretty snippy with you, though."

"I _did_ fall on her again. It's understandable." Clarke suggested, though Raven didn't seem convinced. "Oh come on, if I kept falling on you, how would you feel?"

"If I didn't know you since kindergarten, I'd maybe have to cop a feel before making that decision." Raven shot back, and Clarke could feel the heat in her cheeks at the mere notion that the girl should grab her. "Come on, even in your pajamas, you're a catch. Cut me some slack, Griffin, she's the one that's pissy about a hot girl falling into her lap. That says she's either aggressively hetero and an uptight bigot, or she's trying to hide her gay ways behind a sharp word or two. Seein' as she's a goth, I'm leaning hard on the latter."

Clarke scoffed at the assumption. "You can't just create some weird dichotomy and assume she's one or the other, babe."

"Whatever. Either way, get her something nice. Dollars to donuts, she'll get all gooey." Raven said, shifting back to the preposterous idea of buying the girl a gift just as the goth emerged from the lecture hall, all bundled up for the winter weather. "Like, look at her, she's too extra to be straight. Look at her coat with the little capelet, the swooshy length, and those huge sleeves. Look at the lacy cape with the fur trim and cloak style hood. Who does that? _Gay girls_. Gay goth girls who could appreciate the drama of you falling all over them."

Clarke wasn't entirely convinced but when she offered a wave at the girl and practically stilled her in her tracks, maybe she thought Raven could be onto something. However, any remark that popped up in her mind seemed silly or trite, and with how bundled up she was, she didn't need Clarke hoping she'd stay warm when that seemed a foregone conclusion.

So instead she just smiled.

Those warm brown eyes went wide, and then the girl was ducking her head and rushing off like she'd been struck.

"Shit, yeah. She's super gay. Practically leaving a rainbow trail behind her." Raven noted with entirely too much amusement.

Clarke gave her a light smack upside the head. "Shut up." She said as she got to her feet, hesitating for a moment. "Tonight, you're helping me find something for her."

She ignored Raven's shit-eating grin as best she could, despite knowing it'd haunt her all day. But maybe not as much as the goth girl's lovely, inviting eyes would.

* * *

 

She looked ridiculous.

Of course, pretty much anyone would, carrying a big box across campus, carefully managing her way through the ice and snow en route to the lecture hall, what with the tunnels leading to Jaha building closed for maintenance after a gas leak.

It'd been a difficult week. The goth girl wasn't easy to miss around campus, and it seemed that she and her crossed path at least once a day, only reminding her again and again about what she'd done. Now that her orders arrived, well, Clarke was even more on edge.

So when she entered the class with the box in her arms, scanning around the hall for the goth girl, maybe she stopped paying as much attention to her immediate surroundings as she should. She was just trying to peer around a ground of students standing in one of the aisles when she felt air underneath the ground she'd planned to step on.

Clarke let out a surprised yelp as she tipped forward, only to be held upright by the back of her coat and tugged back to safety.

"What on earth is wrong with you?! You're a walking hazard! You could have..." The goth girl stood at her side, yelling at her, those warm amber eyes ablaze as the girl ranted at her. Between the relief of not dying via the long hard fall down the steps, and of finding the girl, it was hard to concentrate so much on what the girl was yelling at her about this time. "...can't, then take the extra two minutes to walk around the building and enter at the ground floor, avoiding the stairs entirely! Why do you enter from the top at all when you're such a living breathing _hazard_?! Are you _trying_ to die?! As for whatever you're..."

The easy answer was that it was cold outside most days, the ground floor was a maze to get to her lecture hall through via the tunnels, and taking the easier second floor entrance let her sleep in an extra two or three minutes each morning, which was totally worth it.

Today, she _had_ gone outside, but it was windy and cold, and while it was a longer trek, she could avoid most of the freezing rain and high winds by taking a more winding, roundabout route through campus, one that just so happened to end up with her entering the building's second floor rather than the ground floor.

Still, she did hear the girl's point loud and clear, and the box was starting to feel a little heavy, so she needed to start up plan A. "Hi, I'm Clarke."

The girl stalled mid-rant, recoiling slightly as if offended that Clarke would even dare interrupt her. "Anya." The name came out in a growl, but it was still a name to put to her bewildered face.

Anya. A nice name. A fitting name.

Clarke took a deep breath and momentarily ignored Anya's annoyed huff to gather her courage and willpower. "I wanted to thank you. And to replace the skirt I wrecked, but...really, I'm just sorry. You keep saving my ass, and I didn't know how to thank you, so..." The rest of the words building up inside her were messy and trite and she didn't want to drag this on longer than it needed to be, so she turned to Anya and held the box out for her. "...I thought I'd get you something nice."

Anya's baffled expression held for a few more moments before Clarke was unceremoniously shuffled off to the side. "We're blocking the stairs." Anya let out, taking the box and placing it on a spare plastic chair, shooting her a hesitant look before sizing up the box again. "You didn't have to do this."

"I did. You looked really pretty in that skirt, and I ruined it. The least I could do was get you another one." Clarke said, peeling off her coat as Anya peeled away the tape atop the box. "Except, when I went looking, I wasn't sure which one it was, so I might have bought a few. I think I got your size right, though, at least."

Anya glanced back at her again, eyes softer this time, if still full of bewilderment. "You could have asked."

"Yeah, realized that after I made the order. Anyways, they're, uh...I hope you like them. If you don't, then...shit, I don't know, I'll think of something." Clarke rambled, voice starting to shake a bit at the growing intensity in Anya's stare.

"Something?" Anya asked, head slowly tilting to the side. "Such as?"

"Uhh...maybe ask me after class. It's early and my mind's not all up to speed yet." Clarke managed to get out, heart thudding at a furious pace in her chest. She needed to wrap this up before she embarrassed herself, which seemed intensely unlikely with the way Anya was looking at her, with how utterly beautiful Anya was up close. "Look, I just wanted to apologize, and thank you, and get you something nice, and...and I'm sorry if I'm rambling and annoying, pretty girls always get me tripping over my words, and I'm already clumsy, so I'm a mess, so I'm just gonna...class is about to start and I just...I'm gonna sit down. Sorry. I, uh...yeah. Yeah."

Clarke gestured at Anya, and then the box, and quickly darted down the steps to her usual seat, using all her remaining willpower to ignore whatever expression Raven was certainly shooting her way. "That looked both smooth and effortless. Bravo."

Clarke bumped shoulders with Raven as forcefully as she could manage and opened up her notebook. "Shut up."

"I was just thinking, maybe you could give me some advice. See, there's this person I like..." Raven started, and not even the professor walking to the podium stilled her friend's shenanigans.

It was going to be a long lecture.

* * *

 

"How the fuck does Kane spend an hour of the lecture rambling about his cat, and then tack on that we have a new, surprise assignment to finish by midnight tonight in the final five fucking minutes? Fucking goddamn!" Raven seethed as they left the Jaha building and stepped out into the frosty winter air.

As if it wasn't bad enough that she had a major paper due Friday, she now had an assignment worth five percent of her grade due tonight, killing any shot at using tonight to work on her paper. Kane was officially a jackass.

"At least you don't have a deadline for anything else looming this week." Clarke added, though she knew next week would be particularly hectic for her best friend.

 "Psh, that was the point! I was going to get you prepped for this Friday. I see goth girl at the campus pub every weekend, and I was gonna get you ready to make another pass at her." Raven's idea was absurd and earned her a smack upside the head for her efforts. "Ow! Don't blame me! You were the one that kept glancing back at her in class!"

Clarke felt a blush rising to her cheeks. It'd been entirely innocent; she'd just wanted to check on her. That was all. Nothing so weird about that. "Shut up!"

"And you were the one that brought that huge-ass box to class when you could have found something smaller." Raven added. "Look at her up there, she can barely see over it!"

"I didn't want anything to wrinkle!" Clarke shot back, eyes searching for Anya, not needing long to find her. Admittedly, Anya did seem to be struggling a little with its bulk. Perhaps she could have found something smaller. "Maybe I should help carry it back to her dorm."

Raven gave her a playful shove. "Hey, you're not so hopeless after all. Go get her, Love Doctor."

Clarke pointed back at Raven, leveling her with a firm expression. "Never call me that again. You called my mom that for years, it's creepy."

"Go, you goober!" Raven just shoved her again, and alright, maybe it would be a good idea. There was a lot of ice on the ground after last night's cold snap and the morning's freezing rain, after all.

The idea of approaching Anya had her anxiety jumping back up to where it'd been right before she bolted down to her seat just before class. She'd already made a fool out of herself once today, she really couldn't afford to make the same mistake again, but it was hard to trust she could manage when her hands were shaking as much as they were.

As obnoxious as Raven was, her best friend could clearly see that she was into Anya, at least as much as a person could be without knowing someone incredibly well. She was pretty, intelligent by the questions and answers she'd offered up in class, and the girl's dedication to her aesthetic showed a decent degree of courage given the constant weird looks Anya got in class and around campus.

And hell, she was a sucker for smart, strong, and strikingly beautiful women.

Clarke carefully jogged through the courtyard to catch up to Anya, doing her best not to fuck up and slip on one of the many icy patches, knowing a broken neck wouldn't be a good way of endearing Anya to her.

She was nearly there when some burly asshole practically barreled into Anya, or at least the box she was holding, sending the girl spinning and searching for traction on the ice. Clarke bolted forward, seeing Anya's back foot try to plant down atop a slate of sheer ice.

It was the kind of slip that you only really saw in the movies, the box flying high up in the air, Anya's legs kicking out and upward as her body went airborne.

Clarke wasn't sure how, her body just reacting in a split second, but she got there just in time, her arms catching Anya. Her body buckled a bit from the weight, and suddenly her feet and Anya's arms were moving, shifting position for stability; in a blink, it was almost like she was dipping Anya.

She gave full credit to Anya for shaking off her shock much quicker than her, the girl's wide-eyed fearful expression quickly settling to one of expectation.

Maybe it was the teasing from Raven all week, maybe it was her blooming attraction, maybe it was the dramatics of it all, or hell a combination of all those things, but in that moment, Clarke knew one thing: she had this.

Clarke shifted a hand up from Anya's back to support her head and eased Anya up enough for her to safely lean down to meet her, their noses brushing as the cold wind whipped around them. "May I?"

Anya rolled her eyes and tilted her head up, drawing Clarke into a kiss that had heat coursing throughout her body, chasing the frigid winter's sting away, her heart growing another size with each delectable press of their lips.

The sound of someone clearing their throat had her pulling away with complete reluctance, swiftly noticing Raven standing there with the box in her arms. "Don't you dare say a word, Raven." She insisted before easing Anya back up to her feet. "So, uh...wow. Are you okay?"

"Do you ask everyone that question after you've kissed them?" Anya cocked a brow, looking every bit the snarky goth siren she knew her to be.

Clarke shook her head and took a steadying breath, wishing for once that everyone would stop teasing her. "I...you tripped. I was talking about the trip. You're a fantastic kisser, though."

Anya just hummed, and if the light and happy sound hadn't sent Clarke's heart soaring, the warm mirth shining in Anya's eyes certainly would have. " _Thank you_. For ensuring I didn't crack my skull, and for a pretty decent kiss yourself." Anya dug into her bag and pulled out an eyeliner pencil. The girl swiftly took hold of Clarke's nearest hand and began scribbling on the back of it. "Don't lose this, it'd be a shame if I couldn't show off some of my new haul on a dinner date. I'm free on Saturday, but I'll expect to hear from you sooner."

"Of course." Clarke wasn't really sure what to say, all out of words with the way Anya was looking at her while retrieving her box from Raven. "Do you want me to carry that for you?"

"I'll be fine, although I appreciate the offer." Anya said with a grin, turning her focus to Raven. "Make sure she doesn't fall and hit her head on the way home, I fear she's used up all her luck today."

"That is...!" Clarke started in protest, only for Raven and Anya to shoot her equally flat, unimpressed stares. "...entirely sensible. I'll be careful."

Anya just laughed and made her way towards the Polaris dorm, Clarke's feet rooted to the ground as she watched the girl depart.

"Smooth." Raven laughed, sidling up against her and resting a hand on her shoulder. "'Smooth' by Santana featuring Rob Thomas smooth. Sade's 'Smooth Operator' smooth."

Clarke gave Raven a light shove and started off towards her dorm building. "Let's tone it down a notch."

"Don't be modest, you literally saved her ass and kissed her romance movie style." Raven insisted, holding up her phone, a video of the catch playing on the screen. "And I, for one, am thrilled the rest of our friends seem to agree."

Clarke had the Kill Bill sirens going off in her head as Raven ran off ahead of her, catching a head start and absolutely not doing what Anya asked of her. Clarke couldn't let such a breach of privacy stand. "Raven, get back here!"

Raven, of course, did no such thing.

Still, as she chased her best friend across campus, she took heart in that fact that she got to kiss a beautiful girl, and pretty much had a date locked up with Anya that coming weekend. She'd have to endure endless teasing from her friends, but in the end, it'd be worth it.

She just needed to survive the ice and snow long enough to make good on it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of the ficlets I'll be doing for NaNoWriMo this year. Just a short, fluffy fic. I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Prompt/Inspiration: "You tripped and I caught you, but now it looks like I’m dipping you, how did this even…"


End file.
